Page 45 of A Smile Full of Lies (Secrets of Stonewood #1)

I hadn’t cried in years. Not for my parents. Not for my sister. Not even when I stood in front of three goddamn coffins and tried to give a eulogy with a throat made of barbed wire.

But now?

Now I was shaking against the woman I loved, and the tears came like they’d been waiting for this moment all along.

“You weren’t supposed to get hurt,” I rasped. “I would’ve taken the knife. I would’ve burned the whole fucking world down before I let you bleed like that.”

Her hand slid through my hair, the movement slow and shaky.

“Please,” she whispered, “don’t hate me.”

I looked up at her, eyes burning.

“Hate you?” My voice cracked. “Rosalind, I think you might be the only fucking thing keeping me alive.”

“How could you not hate me? I betrayed you.”

“You scared the shit out of me. There’s a difference.”

My voice was low, raw, barely more than a whisper, but her eyes fluttered open and locked on mine like I’d shouted it.

She didn’t flinch. Didn’t apologize. And I think that hurt worse than anything.

“You think I don’t know what you were doing?” I said, my voice cracking as I ran a hand over my face. “You just told me, a few minutes ago, you went to Thayer because you were afraid of what I’d do. Because you thought I’d go after him, get myself arrested — or worse — and you’d lose me.”

She swallowed, slow and careful. Her hand trembled as it reached for mine.

“You’re right,” she rasped. “I was scared. Not of you. For you.”

I shook my head, blinking back another rush of tears I didn’t have the strength to hide anymore.

“You risked your fucking life to protect me,” I said, voice trembling now, unsteady and cracked wide open. “Do you have any idea what that means?”

Her brows knit faintly and she frowned, shaking her head.

“It means you matter more to me than my fucking life, Ros,” I said, leaning closer, my forehead almost touching hers.

“I’ve spent four goddamn years trying to hold my shit together, trying to survive with this pit in my chest where my family used to be.

And then you — you, with your big goddamn heart — waltzed in and made it feel like maybe I wasn’t broken beyond repair. ”

She choked on a laugh. Or maybe a sob.

“Don’t make me laugh,” she whispered, lips twitching. “It hurts so fucking much.”

My throat burned.

I kissed her forehead, soft and shaking.

“You didn’t just solve the case. You gave me my future back.”

Her lashes fluttered.

I whispered it right against her skin.

“And I have never, never , loved someone more in my entire fucking life.”

She gasped, then winced, pressing a hand against the slash wound on her abdomen.

“You love me?”

I nodded.

“I need you to hear me.”

My voice shook, but I didn’t care. I was past pride. Past self-preservation. I leaned in closer, my hand cradling her jaw, my thumb stroking the line of her cheekbone where a tear had left a track.

“Ros, I’ve done some fucked up things in my life. I’ve lied. I’ve manipulated. I’ve been cold, calculated, and I have never once regretted a single move — until the second I saw you unconscious in this hospital because I wasn’t there to protect you when you needed me most.”

Her eyes shimmered. Her hand curled weakly around my wrist.

“I should be furious,” I said, my voice low and gutted. “I am furious. You went behind my back. You made a choice that almost cost you your life. And all because you didn’t trust me not to burn everything down.”

Her breath hitched and she bit her lip, dropping her gaze to her lap.

“But here’s the thing, baby.” I leaned in until my lips brushed her temple. “You were a hundred percent right.”

Her whole body stilled.

“What?”

“If you’d told me it was Thayer, I’d have killed him in cold blood.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “And I wouldn’t have fucking hesitated.”

She let out a shaky sob.

“Knox—”

“No. Let me finish.” My fingers tightened around hers. “You saved me from that. From destroying what’s left of my life. You took that risk — you bled for me — because you love me.”

Tears spilled freely now, hers and mine both. No shame. No hiding.

“So I’m telling you right now, Rosalind Cooper,” I said, voice sharp with everything I felt, “I’m done pretending this is anything less than everything.

You’re it for me. You’ve always been it for me, ever since the first time I laid eyes on you at a Halloween bonfire when I was eighteen years old, and every day after that, even when you were dating Thayer. ”

She opened her mouth like she wanted to argue — but I cut her off the only way I knew how.

I kissed her. Soft and slow and absolute . And when I pulled back, her voice trembled against mine.

“Even after everything?”

I pressed my forehead to hers.

“Especially after everything.”

She sobbed out a laugh, wrecked and shaking and real. And I knew, no matter what came next — courtrooms, media, fallout, grief — none of it could touch us. Not really. Because she was mine. And I was hers.

She’d nearly died for me. Now I was going to spend the rest of my life proving she hadn’t bled for nothing.